never been degraded by his adultery and neither should the service of general petraeus. thanks so much for watching. "hardball" is next. judgment to rush. let's play "hardball." ♪ good evening. i'm chris matthews in washington. let mae start tonight with this. victory has 100 fathers john f. kennedy said, defeat is an orphan. let me tell you the people in the republican conservative parts of this country are rip. they had it in november -- rather they had it in october, they lost it in november. somehow like an nfl receiver, they saw that football landing in their hands, saw it floating right in there, and then it managed to slip right through. gone. the whole ball game. the game they had won now lost. and that's why they're looking for someone to blame. they can't blame that liberal obama so they're blaming that

liberal romney. that northeastern liberal crowd. texas senator elect ted cruz is cruller still. he accuses romney of going out there and french kissing obama. yes, they're blaming romney now. they were blaming chris christie for working with obama during hurricane sandy. now they're blaming romney for dancing with him. the strict orthodox side of the republican party are blaming the candidate himself for giving away their virtue. ed rendell is the former governor of pennsylvania and matt kiby is the president of freedom works. this is the most unusual pairing, you and matt kiby, governor. you of the northeast establishment, a moderate governor of pennsylvania and here is matt railing at the ramparts against all you represent. this should be interesting. the right fights back. since the election a lot of republicans soul searching has focused on the need to broaden the political base of the republican party. fiscal and social conservatives are saying that's the wrong

message. the correct takeaway they say from the election is that the party was too moderate. here is tea party favorite ted cruz, the senator elect from texas. let's watch him. >> inevitably there are these mandarins in politics who give the voice, don't show any contrast, don't rock the boat. so by the third debate, i'm pretty certain mitt romney actually french kissed barack obama. >> well, social srve bob van der platts of the family leader told "the washington post," quote, the moderates have had their candidate in 2008 and they had their candidate in 2012 and they got crushed in both elections. new they tell us we have to keep moderating. if we do that, will we win? and tea party senator jim demint of south carolina had this to say about moderate senatorial candidates. quote, what i learned is the people who are still out there running on bold ideas, those conservatives won. in the case of ray burg, berg,

and tommy thompson, having a moderate candidate does not win races for republicans. i want to start with you, matt, because you're on the right, and your sense of this election. was romney too moderate and too big tent and not fervent enough and not that much of a conviction politician or was he unable to reach all kinds of people that just didn't go for the conservative message? >> you know, if you look at this race, it wasn't so much conservative versus moderate. it was lacking a set of issues. you really struggled to see what mitt romney was for, and there is a sense amongst the establishment republican political class to not run on issues, to almost run a beauty contest, and mitt romney lost that fight against barack obama. i think it's pretty clear that when republicans run on core fiscal conservative issues and offer a positive, compelling case for those issues, they do win. >> do you buy that, governor? >> no, not at all. mike cassell would have crushed

our democratic candidate for senate. he lost to a tea party candidate. richard lugar would have beaten our candidate in indiana. he lost to a tea party candidate. look, it's not moderate versus conservative. it's sensible and rational. the tea party, no offense to mr. kibbe who i have seen on tv and is a pretty decent guy, but they're running often a bunch of wackos whose view on key issues, not just economic issues, so far afield from ordinary americans that they're destined to lose. >> well, what about -- >> no offense. >> no offense, of course. that's how you speak with no offense in philly. let me ask you, matt, with no offense here, what about this guy mourdock who talked about rape in the strangest way or akin who talked about legitimate rape and what about that woman in -- i forget her name -- in nevada who was really tough -- sharron angle. do you think they're saying it

the wrong way when they're speaking conservative language or they're saying something wrong? >> well, you know -- >> which is it? >> todd akin was never a tea party candidate. that's important. there were two other primary challengers who were the favorite of the tea party who focused on fiscal db. >> were they to his right? >> they were focused on economic issues. he was always from the social conservative wing of the party, but a big fan of earmarks. even claire mccaskill discovered she was againstary marks. democrats ran on what i would call tea party issues but there is no tea party. there is a set of issues that define the tea party movement and you had both republicans and democrats successfully running against earmarks, distancing themselves from obama care, running for balanced budget. >> you say it's fiscal issues but below the surface you hear a lot of concern about illegal immigration, anger about it from tea party people. it's not all numbers. >> it's not -- that's -- >> tell me how you deal with the immigration issue when you're talking to people who are here without papers or their families came here without papers and

they come in that situation? they hear you say self-deport. they hear get out of here, which is literally what romney was saying, get out of here. is that -- did he say it wrong or did he say something wrong? did he say it the wrong way? >> are you calling mitt romney is tea party candidate? this is how it gets to confusing. >> you take a strict line on immigration. are you appealing to immigrants or not? >> here is what i think the tea party philosophy is on a lot of things. everybody should follow the same rules as everybody else and we don't like changing the rules after the fact and we'd like to get at the government failure on immigration. why is it that people who want to come here and work can't go through a rational process? isn't that part of the illegal problem? why don't we fix the government failure first? >> yeah, i'm with you. i would like to see work permits like in every other country in the universe but the libertarians on the right don't believe in work permits. the dick armeys of the world hate work permits. >> but work permits are one of

the answers to a long-term immigration bill. on fiscal policy, first of all, matt, i would honestly say this election rejected a lot of the fiscal policy that the right has been pushing, and i don't know specifically tea party, but i think americans do want government to be involved. i think sandy brought that issue home with a crashing reality. they don't want big government, but they want effective government. they want government to play a role in their life. they don't want a government that doesn't spend money on the things that are important to them. >> i want you to take this challenge from rush limbaugh, matt, and you are a good guy, so take on rushbo because you're a solution, the cheerleader or a problem. rush limbo was saying don't go crazy republicans, you already have your outreach efforts in place. listen to this give. i think he gets the point of it, ironically. >> clarence thomas, herman cain, none of it counts. don't tell me the republican party doesn't have outreach.

we do. but what are we supposed to do now? are we supposed to -- in order to get the hispanic or latino vote, does that mean open the borders and embrace the illegals? is that -- i want you to think about this. if we're not getting the female vote, do we become pro-choice? do we start passing out birth control pills? is that what we have to do? >> is that what the we have to do, matt? >> no. i think our movement is color blind and the irony of what we've done is we've repopulated the republican party with men and women, black, brown, white, it doesn't really matter because we judge people on issues. where do you think ted cruz came from, where do you do you think marco rubio came from? it was us. we don't judge people based on the color of your skin. i thought that's what we all believed. >> they judge you that way. >> i think they judge that you way because they have a sense looking ronald reagan on forward you're not a party of a welcome mat for minorities. jeev we have to work on that,

absolutely. we're repopulated the whole republican party. it's no longer octogenarian white guys. we're bringing in everybody. >> he's portraying a party that doesn't exist quaet. i don't know where that republican party works. where is that party? >> they really don't seem to have learned lessons. literally, matt, less than a week after the election results where single women voted against the republican party, 68 to 30, ohio republicans went ahead and put essentially a personhood bill on the floor of the ohio legislature, a personhood bill that was turned down in mississippi. are you guys nuts? >> no, i'm not nuts, actually. >> what do you answer? >> i don't even know what a personhood -- >> it says at the time of your conception a fetus' conception, the second after sex basically, all of a sudden 14th amendment rights are appropriate, life, liberty, and property. whatever that means. >> i think any conversation that's not about fiscal crisis

and the government spending too much money it doesn't have is off base right now and i think that's what the tea party brought back to the conversation. we're actually concerned -- >> you say that. now, look, you keep saying it's only about money and dollars and cents. if it's only about that the conservative party would be doing very well. here is senator marco rubio. i thought he was just a fiscal conservative. >> unbelievable. >> he looks pretty eager to curry favor with the hard right. look what he said in an interview with gq when they is how old the ooert is. i'm not a scientist man. i can tell what you recorded history says. i can tell what you the baseball says but i think that's a dispute among theologians. i think it has nothing to do with the gross domestic product whether the earth was created in seven days or seven actual eras. i'm not sure we'll ever be able to answer it. it's one of the great mysteries. the question to him is do you believe in science. if lucy is over 2 million years old and we have scientific

evidence of human life of some form going way back 2 million years, do you just ignore that because it says something in the bible? what do you do? and a person who beleifs that like that, doesn't separate his religion from his scientific faith, don't you have a problem with that person talking to them? >> i wonder why -- why do we care -- >> why does he say that? why doesn't he say i believe in science. >> why do we care about what any politician -- >> because we talk about global warming. you would like to think you can start from a common basis believing in a scientific method. >> i don't even see the link between the two. i happen to not know how old the earth is and -- >> governor, you again because i don't know -- i'd like -- if i saw a doctor and on his wallet said imaginative design or some theory, i would say i wish you had taken biology in school just to start or organic khem. >> i'm all for science. >> but, matt, it does matter, matt u because on the issue of global warming, most of the

people in the republican party and a number of tea partyites deny the science which is absolutely clear and, of course, sandy brought it home to us again, that what we are doing, what men are doing to the environment is causing global warming, and if you deny that, it means you're not going to take steps to prevent it. so it is important. it is important whether people deny science or not. >> so there's only -- i mean, we're accepting that there's one science and this is pretty interesting. >> 98% of scientists tell us that what we are doing to the environment has an effect and if you haven't seen the changes in weather -- how old are you, matt? >> i'm 49. >> how old are you? >> 49. >> if you haven't seen the changes in weather in the last 20 years in your lifetime, then you are oblivious. the weather is changing. we are screwing things up -- >> this has nothing to do with what marco rubio said at all. >> i think just answer the question. >> sure it does. if he denies science, he should say i believe in science. >> he doesn't deny science. i mean, that's ridiculous.

>> he did on that. >> let me ask you -- i got up in philadelphia putting chains on my tires about every day when i went to high school. getting chains on the tire with the ice and snow is the way we lived. what happened? just what happened? >> weather changes. >> it changes. i get you. >> have you noticed that? >> i would say it has been changing. i'd say new york is refitting itself from being under water practical olympic pi. >> let's talk about a practical thing. if -- >> global warming is very important. >> okay. global warming is very important. what is it that we think that a bunch of politicians in washington, d.c., who can't even balance the budget, what are they going to do about global warming seriously? >> i'll give you a perfect example. >> there's such a things a political failure. there's such a thing as the limits to what government can do. if you really think that the climate is changing, do you really think that government can redesign the entire global economy, not just in the united states, but in the entire world in a more rational way.

i think you're expecting too much from politics. >> not at allings matt. one example and there are a legion of examples. by building up cafe standards, the miles per hour the cars have to get, we are burning significantly less petroleum because of what the obama administration has done. for every time we double the mileage requirement for cars, we are eliminating a significant amount ofc o2 that goes into the atmosphere. that's something government did, did it, you know, in a forthright fashion, and it is making a difference. >> okay. gofert put a man on the moon. government is not essentially incompetent. when we start taking steam ship rides across the polar cap, i think you should admit something is going on a little different than you put it weather changes. there ain't going to be a north pole anymore. where is santa claus going to live. more on the republican civil war. a crush rush. the sensible voices in the republican party are letting out

rushbo in on a skreth. it's not your grandfather's rural white conservative america anymore. plus, cementing our legacy. hillary clinton lands in israel. she's there to broker a truce between israel and hamas. and that was -- was this the best out of the 2012 campaign? ♪ oh beautiful for spacious skies ♪ ♪ for amber waves of grain >> the best and worst political ads and candidates coming up in the shoud sh"sideshow." and let me finish with my advice for the president's second term. i think it's important for him and us. this is "hardball," the place for politics. their name on the door, and their heart into their community. small business saturday is a day to show our support. a day to shop at stores owned by our friends and neighbors. and do our part for the businesses

that do so much for us. on november 24th, let's get out and shop small. [ male announcer ] jill and her mouth have lived a great life. but she has some dental issues she's not happy about. so i introduced jill to crest pro-health for life. selected for people over 50. pro-health for life is a toothpaste that defends against tender, inflamed gums, sensitivity and weak enamel. conditions people over 50 experience. crest pro-health for life. so jill can keep living the good life. crest. life opens up when you do. republican congressmen allen west of florida has finally conceded defeat. in his statement west said he congratulated his opponent and said our legal team does not believe there are enough overcounted, undercounted, or fraudulent votes to change the

outcome of this election. by the way, west will go down in history as one of the most outspoken members of the class of 2010. he once said that there are 80 konl niss in the democratic caucus in the house right there this that chamber with him. 80 come mis. we'll be right back. part of a whole new line of tablets from dell. it's changing the conversation. ♪

okay. so you people are all white 65 and over and you live in the sticks, and you are screwing up the republican party because you are believing what i say. this is their explanation for having lost. >> welcome back to "hardball." that was rush limbaugh. he's a performer. yesterday telling his audience that so-called reasonable republicans have it wrong. they're calling him one of the problems on the right. but the problem for republicans is that they'll never expand their base if rush is the target audience. with me are two radio talk show

hosts. michael smerconish of philadelphia and ron reagan in seattle. let's take a look at what has got rush so rhode islailed up. >> it's very fashionable now to beat up romney and he made it unfortunate comment after the election but the biggest problem he had was the republican primary. that's what is driving the republican brand to a disaster. we have to get a party view of america that's not right out of rush limbaugh's dream journal. >> here is steve schmidt breaking down the election problems in a bite that sent rush limbaugh into a tear. >> we would have been much better off running against the real president obama as opposed to the sinister pretend president obama, and the total lack of credibility with some of this stuff i think is just absolutely repellent to the middle of the electorate. and then when you look at the demographics, who is rush limbaugh talking to? he is talking to a demographic

that's white, 65-plus, and rural. that's not what the country looks like anymore. so you have these talk radio hosts making millions and millions and millions of dollars a year driving a message of complete and total ludicrous nonsense into the electorate. a lot of it poisonous. >> here is rush responding to that little gem right there from steve schmidt. >> you got to get a view of the republican party that is not right out of my dream journal. what folks did i or any of you have to do with the republican primary? did not murphy get the candidate he wanted? all these consultants -- do you realize they get rich no matter who wins or loses? little known secret, they get rich no matter who wins or loses.

but the republican primary, what was wrong with the republican primary -- as far as he's concerned there were too many conservatives in it saying too many stupid things. we need to get rid of conservatism is what he's saying. we know schmidt knows how to lose, and we know that murphy knows how to lose, and so it's quite natural to blame somebody else. obama got away with it. obama blamed bush and he got away with it. people bought it. so now that's guys want to blame me. >> michael smerconish, i don't even know who you voted for so you're fascinating to me as always. here is the guy -- did you hear what he said, limbaugh? i have always had a theory in politics, if you listen to people when they make their harshist criticism of the other side, it's usually about themselves. he said these guys get rich no matter who wins or loses. rush wins no matter what because there's always somebody in the car willing to listen to him

because they're lonely basically. >> the irony is the same demographic problem faced by the gop is faced by talk radio and steve schmidt was mageing reference to that. both are overly dependent on older white guys but they have different objectives because the republican party exists for one purpose and that is to win elections, to get to 51%. that doesn't need to be the objective of the talk radio industry. the talk radio industry is predicated on a very small but very loyal audience and like those con tull tants to whom rush refers, he stays in a position of power regardless of who wins the election. as a matter of fact, there's a good school of thought out there it bodes well for him because president obama has been re-elected. >> and then he becomes the government in exile, right. >> correct. antagonizing the incumbent. >> do you agree with that, ron, that rush benefits from being perceived or a self-perceived minority, an aggrieved minority, a small group of guys who aren't

appreciated and everybody else ask a femi nazi or whatever other term he puts out there. >> rush prospers no matter what and he's probably thrilled barack obama has been re-elected so he can hammer him for the next four years. the republican party's problem is much bigger than rush limbaugh or fox news, much bigger than demographics, ethnicity, and age, it's ignorance and it was typified by marco rubio the other day. you mentioned that in the last segment. marco rubio who is a fairly bright young guy who probably does know how old the planet earth is felt compelled to pretend differently so he's either stupid or he's pandering to ignorance. that's what the republican party has gotten stuck with, pandering to ignorance all the time. sizable chunk of their party simply doesn't know what kind of planet they live on. they have all sorts of fantasy -- >> what do you think, ron -- that's very tough.

do you think they believe some liberal from new york snuck around the planet and buried all those ole bones at some point to create this case there was a 2 million-year-old human history? what do they think -- how did lucy get there? how do they find -- >> what is their explanation for the fact that there were dinosaurs on this planet? how do they deny it? >> listen to congressman paul bruin of georgia who is on the house of representatives science committee talking to his constituents about how it's all the devil's work trying to fool people and that he's worked out that the planet is actually only 9,000 years old. i mean, this is what these people believe. and, yeah, somebody is out there burying ancient fossils on their way to creating a hokax called global warming. it's all of a piece. >> i think the bible is for moral truth. i think that's a safe assessment. i don't think it's for scientific information and i don't think anybody really thinks it does. but michael, let me get back to

this question. the republican party is right now in a period, and we're watching it and enjoying it to some extent, looking for what went wrong. some believe it's the loudness from the right. some believe they didn't run a real right wing candidate. my argument would be if they ran the real thing, like they always say, they will find themselves in even a narrower -- or smaller circle to defend. >> well, those two thoughts are actually related and here is how. the group that you're talking about, this cabal between talk radio and fox news and conservative outposts has a stranglehold on primary voters. there's been an exodus of independents from the gop. they do take their marching orders from the individuals that you're talking about, and so, too, do republican elected officials because they've got to play to that primary base. where this campaign went off the rails, i say, is that governor romney had to sell crazy in primary season. he was one of those hands that went in the air and said, i would reject a 10 for 1 deal.

in a nutshell, that wra they went off track. they would reject $10 for spending cuts for every $1 of tax increases. why? because they didn't want to face condemnation from the media hosts you're now addressing the following day. >> and it's just like -- i'll say this again. i won't use the bad word but the old days in the south, you couldn't win unless you were the further out of the most segregationist line. if anybody went soft on the race issue, you were finished. the only way you won was go hard right and become the ultimate segregationist and that held the south back for decades. thank you michael and ron. have a nice holiday. up next, the best and worst campaign commercials of the 2012 campaign coming up. it's kind of interesting. forgot a lot of these. this is "hardball," the place for politic. twins. i didn't see them coming.

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back to "hardball." now to the "sideshow." first off, the political version of the oscars kind of. "the washington post" is out with its list of the 2012 election fixies they call them or the best and worst candidates and ads of this election cycle. first the ads. the best goes to the obama campaign with this america the beautiful themed anti-romney ad. ♪ oh beautiful for spacious skies ♪ ♪ for amber waves of grain ♪ for purple mountains majesty ♪ above the fruited plain ♪ america, america, god shed his grace on thee ♪ >> worst goes to todd akin for his straight to camera apology ad following his remarks about so-called legitimate rape. he lost the election over that, but no ad was going to win back the votes.

now to the candidates. best goes to the democratic senator elect heidi heitkamp of north dakota. she had a surprising victory in a red state won easily by mitt romney. "the washington post" notes that heitkamp's positive ad campaign as one reason she came out on top. finally, the not so ge sirable fixy for worst candidate of the 2012 election cycle. spoiler alert here, oops. >> i would do away with the education, the -- >> commerce. >> commerce. and let's see -- i can't. the third one i can't. sorry. oops. >> i come from a state, you know, where they had this little place called the alamo and they declared victory or death. you know, we're kind of into those slogans, man. it's like live free or die, victory or death, bring it. >> well, there you have it. rick perry, a lot of people thought he had a good shot at the nomination when he first entered the race. i did fll i got to know him. finally, what's mitt romney been up to post election.

this photo of the former candidate putting gas in his car has gone viral overnight. regular guy mitt, a as soon as possible shot like this might have helped him out during a little campaign, a little human behavior that a lot of people weren't sure he actually took part in. instead, we have this quote from political analyst larry saab toe. i just don't think romney ever established an emotional connection with much of anybody in the party. he was essentially a cyborg designed to win the presidenty and when he failed, he was placed in a disposal bin. that's cold. up next, hillary clinton is in the middle east right now. she got there in one flight. looking to end the violence between israel and hamas. could be her last act of secretary of state and it could cement her legacy. let's see how she's doing. that is "hardball," the place for politics. i've learned the only way to get a holiday deal is to camp out. you know we've been open all night. is this a trick to get my spot? [ male announcer ] break from the holiday stress. save on ground shipping at fedex office.

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i'm amanda drury with your

cnbc market wrap. stocks sold off on comments from ben bernanke today but the dow did mange to stage a comeback closing down just 7 points. the s&p and nasdaq finishing flat. fed chairman bernanke said the central bank does not have the cools to cushion the blo he for failing to fix the fiscal cliff. hewlett-packard shares slide by 12% after a huge charge related to alleged fraud. and that is it from cnbc. those are the headlines in business. we're first in business worldwide. now it's back over to "hardball." back to "hardball." secretary of state hillary clinton landed on choppy diplomatic waters today when she peeled off from the trip to asia with the president to wade into the growing conflict between israel and hamas. shortly after landing in israel today, she met with prime minister benjamin netanyahu.

let's watch. >> president obama asked me to come to israel with a very clear message. america's commitment to israel's security is rock solid and unwavering. the rocket attacks from terrorist organizations inside gaza on israeli cities and towns must end and a broader calm restored. >> with her time as secretary of state coming to an end, clinton's diplomatic push will likely be one of her most climatic acts in this business, very much near the end of the term. it could help define her legacy. we're joined by robin wright and steve clemens, washington editor-at-large for the atlantic. great to have you both experts on. what i'm fascinated by has always been the relationship starting at the time he named her secretary of state, and she agreed to take it. this was a mutual agreement. she could have said no and stayed as a very important senator from new york. this relationship, is it a familiar one like a president

and his -- like kennedy and dean rusk or truman and dean acheson? is it like that? we have a big president and a somewhat smaller cabinet ministers or are they like equals? >> i think they're closer to equals but this is not kissinger/nixon. hillary came in as the far more experienced person when it came to knowing the world. her husband had been president. she'd toured the world. he had been. >> she was an international figure. >> she was an international figure. obama was the ingenue. i think obama has become a stronger president on foreign policy. i know there were a couple situations where she's come through with proposals that he's challenged do shall. >> quickly, when -- i always like the way these communiques go out. this report the other night was hillary clinton is going like chinese gordon to solve a big dispute, one of those wonderful moments when charles chinese gordon comes in and tries to deal with the situation in cartoon. it was the president's dispatching her. i thought that was an interesting way of saying it.

it wasn't like i'm going to go. is that interesting to you? >> no. look, she's not going to say i decided on my own i should come here. >> but she broke off from a diplomatic effort over in the far east. >> he was coming home. this was an initiative that she -- that the administration wanted to say comes from the president. it has the white house's initiative and so that's important to the process that unfolds. >> okay. you're over there and you're netanyahu, no friend of the president, they have a cold peace at best. she's going there -- does israel want this conflict to end or do they want to use it to clear the missile sites out of gaza? >> i think it wants security for israelis and it will do whatever it takes. >> does it mean continuing the conflict or ending it. >> if hamas doesn't stop that means -- >> i think they're going to clear the missile sites and then go to iran if they had to. >> i don't think the conflicts are necessarily related. >> steve, how do you see it? you go see it as part of an incipient conflict with iran that's coming. we all know it's going to be coming in some form or or is it the usual problem israel has a

difficult, in fact, violent neighbor that wants to keep bothering them with missile. >> blooiottom line, there's an election coming up in israel and there's a strange correlation between elections and this kind of violence. i think the cabinet in israel wants to sow how strong it is but the bigger problem beyond iran, and robin knows this so well, they're sort of a tsunami in the region. you have a rise of political islamic movements that been democratically elected and empowered, and they are furious and upset and bonded and reaching out to those who feel under stress in gaza. the u.s./israel relationship is sort of like a new orleans levee. it's working until a big storm comes and israel has been unable or unwilling to change the terms of its security in its neighborhood when i think it's had ample opportunity to try and do so. >> how does it work on the ground between the secretary and president. are they back and forth on how they deal with it or does she have a free hand? >> i think she talks to the white house quite often, will brief him on any -- what bibi

says to her about what israel's goals are and again when she goes to cairo and meets with president morsi which is arguably the most important stop on this trip. >> because he's the mediator. >> and president obama has developed a very interesting relationship over the past -- >> i think we have to hold onto morsi. >> with the president of egypt. >> don't you? >> absolutely. >> how important -- >> let's be clear -- >> always had the deal between israel and egypt in the interest of both countries and our country. can we keep that deal? there are some architecture for peace there? >> we're going to try to keep that deal absolutely, but, remember, we're complicit in part of what happened. obama when he took george michel's resignation and basically moved dennis ross out of the white house, he doesn't put a new program on the table. and when america walks away from this peace process or an effort to bring the two sides together and really lay out a plan, violence kicks up. so we have a bit of complicity and you you are seeing right now not a strategic presidency from obama but a reactive presidency and that doesn't bode well for this. >> do you agree with that?

if you're not moving forward you're moving backwards on the peace process? >> i think you plod forward or stay -- i'm not sure it's unraveling. i still think the amazing thing about all of the changes in the middle east is that you still have a commitment of all the key players to the peace process. >> i know. it's not as bad as w where he just did nothing thp thanks my opinion. thank you both. i want to see peace over there but i want to have a long term problem of iran dealt with. we have a lighter note coming up who do a great impression of president obama that we see and his secret luther who is out there voicing and dramatizing his real feelings. it's very interesting. stay with us. it's very political. comedy central joins us next. this is "hardball," the place for politics. a restaurant is hard, try running four. fortunately we've got ink. it gives us 5x the rewards

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these guys key and peel on comedy central, they've got -- they've got a guy who imitates me pretty well. >> yeah. >> and the premise is i'm sitting in the oval office and he's got an anger translator named luther, who i'll make my little speech, and then luther will come on and say -- i can't actually repeat what luther -- it's pretty good stuff. >> that's really good. >> it's good stuff. >> welcome back to "hardball." when the president says he likes your show it can be incredible in terms of consequence. look how the show homeland took off. after the president said he watched that, anyway, let's talk about this one. let's talk about the clip from another show he just said he

liked right there with jimmy fallon, key and peel. >> to the american people, i just want to say that the debates are over but now is not a time to tally points or to keep the score. >> 2-1, obama, game, set, match, touchdown, home run, checkmate, can we get that now? >> governor romney in the recent debate, i laid out the inconsistencies in your stated beliefs. >> governor romney. governor romney, why you smiling while you're getting your [ bleep ] kicked? are we debating or are you trying to sell me a lexus? >> i directly questioned you about your opposition to the auto industry bailout. >> on behalf of all the people in detroit that want to stab you, i ask again, why are you smiling? >> i spoke about bringsmanship with iran and you just said you wanted a peaceful planet. >> are you holding that gravy up in here. i'm sorry, mitt, if you want to be the first mormon hippie, you're going to need to grow your hair out, dog. and quit smiling.

[ bleep ]. >> joined by keegan michael key and jordan peele otherwise known as peele. i mentioned i moved down to thef the couch. to get to move to the end of the couch have you to be on first, which is the clip. i have to ask you about, how did you come across this notion of the alter ego for the president, who is a little more dramatic? you want to do that, michael? what was the spark that led you to believe there was an invisible obama with an attitude? >> a few years back when joe wilson had the "you lie" statement, jordan and i were trying to figure out something to write about the president. we figured we have to have the president in our show, we being biracial. we discussing that thing about joe wilson, if you said that, a president should be allowed to react to that comment. and then he just didn't -- he just can't because of who he is. so, we figured out, gosh, we have to have somebody speak for him. and that could work for us xheed

comedically. that was one aspect. >> we're pacing around my house, my apartment. we wanted to find that voice for the president, but also, you know, my -- you know, my partner keegan, he's pretty excitable. he gets going. he's like cory booker with three red bulls, you know? he gets pretty heated. so we found this -- we found this sort of two-man impression that would also sort of allow people to, you know, have this moment of catharsis and release of things that a lot of people know but not a lot of people are talking about. >> we have -- go ahead. here's another clip following the second presidential debate where the president turned his guns. they deconstruct the night and go over it like you do after a big night. let's listen. >> he was proud of his efforts to include qualified women in his cabinet. >> you made it sound like

finding a qualified woman is like hunting down a sasquatch. >> drew a tenuous connection between single parent householdses and gun violence. >> yes, children of single parents usually grow up to use ak-47s. or become the president. >> wow. tell me what -- i always liked the few minutes i had with the president. they are scarce and rare. but he always has this other level to him, which is very cool, very funny, very hip. >> yeah. >> do you want -- jordan, you want toe start on that, what it was like to chat with him? >> that's right. we got to meet him at the beverly hilton, where he was staying, after that whole big clooney thing, where the real stars were. we got a special meeting. first thing he says, he looks at keegan and goes, now, i need luther. i need him. going to have to wait till

second term, but i need him. out of the gate he was pretty hilarious. you know, it was just the best experience of our lives. we got bro hugs from him. he said, you know, i know it's hard for a brother on tv, i know it. you know, motive, you know. he puts his hand on your shoulder -- on your shoulder. just really sort of warm guy. >> yeah, he is that way. he's very -- i wonder whether he rehearses this stuff ahead of time because it's so to the point. michael, you guys come from mixed parents, black and white parents. this thing about one of you guys were -- it was peele the other night talking to me about how you guys can tell jokes that nobody else on the planet can tell, like football players' names, the birth names. they can be pretty original. >> with my name, my name is, you know, keegan-michael key, and i've been cursed with this name my whole -- in fact, in this very broadcast you've called me michael, which is certainly not your fault because my parents

gave me a weird name. >> well, what did they call you at home? >> keegan. they call me keegan at home. but it's like, because of my name, i'm fascinated with really interesting names. i think it's a testament to the mother's imaginations. i think they want their kids to have really good names or interesting names that nobody else has. but part of it is being biracial jordan and i can be -- we're kind of like racial referees, in a way, because we straddle both cultures. and as does the president in a particular way. >> i guess he does. >> so it's like thomas jefferson, you know, he used to have a bed you could walk into either room, depending on what side of the bed you got out of but he had a biracial experience himself, come to think of it. >> yes, he did. seven of them, at least. thank you, guys. good luck with everything you're doing. keegan-michael key and jordan peele. >> thank you. when we return, let me finish with president obama's second term and the need i need to go for greatness like he he

did for the first time. joe biden is celebrating his 70th birthday today. he's a youthful kind of guy, don't you think? we want to wish the vice president happy 70th. that's what 70 looks like. "hardball," the place for politics. americans believe they should be in charge of their own future. how they'll live tomorrow. for more than 116 years, ameriprise financial has worked for their clients' futures. helping millions of americans retire on their terms. when they want. where they want. doing what they want. ameriprise. the strength of a leader in retirement planning. the heart of 10,000 advisors working with you one-to-one. together for your future. ♪

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let me finish with this. the obama second term. i don't know anyone who doesn't want it to be better than the first. he did valuable, historic things in the first but i want him to

join the list of truly great presidents. for that i have advice. go high, fill your cabinet with top people. go for the people you couldn't get your first term. don't promote people. go oat and get the best, like mike bloomberg, people difficult to deal with, with egos and separate distinctions, principles. don't head to the second term by filling your white house and cabinet with people your confident with. fill it with the highest, toughest talent, people who got there on their own without your help. ike made sherman a chief of staff, a crooked one, disaster. ike had imagined. reagan blew it by letting his staffers pick chief of staff. clinton just did not have people around him who were ready to step up and keep him from the problem of monica, something they saw but didn't stop. everyone who voted for barack obama wants this preside t